Many musical groups of today such as marching bands, dance bands, rock bands, and the like, present musical performances such as in parades, during half-time activities of an athletic events, during a pop, rock, or jazz musical performance, or the like. A drummer or a percussionist, (herein, interchangeably denoted by either term, to the extent that they use striking devices such as drumsticks) and the beat which they provide to a musical group, are indispensable to that group. The drumbeat becomes the basic beat of the music. The rhythm of the dream may at times stand alone in a musical composition, but a composition is seldom without the rhythmic accompaniment of a drum. The main contribution and his playing to music are aural. However, the contribution is also visual. The flash of the spinning drumsticks and the rhythmic waving of the drummer's hands, arms, and the whole body are part of the drummer's presence.
When performing with a standard striking apparatus the drummer may have a preferred grip location on the shaft. This position is what produces the optimum sound during the performance. While playing, the drummer frequently loses the preferred grip and has to regain the original position. Occasionally, the drumstick may slip completely out of the drummer's hand. The problem becomes worse if the drummer's hand is sweaty. This slippage is due mainly to centrifugal or inertial forces on the drumstick while in motion. Several attempts have been made to assist in gripping a drumstick.
For example, one such attempt may be found in U.S. Design Pat. No. 297,546 to Seals which shows a drumstick having a large wrist band attached thereto. U.S. Pat. No. 3,365,108 to Giba discloses a retaining device for drumsticks wherein a ring which is worn on a finger of the drummer's hand is connected to the drumstick by a short, flexible, and freely swiveling connection.
A further example is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,836 to Baumgart, which discloses a drumstick on the left hand having three recesses in the peripheral region of the short flexor of the thumb, another for the ring finger, and the third for the middle finger. U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,768 to Willis discloses a drumstick having a non-bulbous tip and a grip portion to facilitate holding of the stick. The end of the stick is sharply tapered, ending in a point.
A still further example is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,887, to Buchanan, which discloses a drumstick having “a gripping member pivotally attached to said drumstick in the intermediate region adjacent to the balance area, said drumstick being freely pivotal with respect to said gripping member.”
A still further example is provided by P.C.T App. No. WO 2005/094361 by Richard, which discloses an ergonomic drumstick that “includes a plurality of rings forming ridges configured to circumferentially encompass a drumstick, the plurality of rings located non-equidistant from each other on the drumstick such that the rings ergonomically conform to the grip of a hand, the rings made from a softer material than the drumstick.”
While the above devices generally address the issue of improved gripping of a drumstick, they do not provide a convenient and inexpensive means for improved grip on a variety of unmodified ordinary striking devices that include drumsticks, mallets, brushes, hammers, metal rods, specialty striking apparatuses, bows and the like. Therefore, there remains a need for a method of improving a percussionist's grip on a striking apparatus that does not require modification of the striking apparatus in any way.